The production of haloalkanes by the addition of olefins to starting material haloalkanes is well known in the art. Further, it is known that the product's carbon chain length increases by at least one carbon atom compared to the starting material, which drastically increases the product's boiling point making recovery of the product difficult and diminishing product yield.
Several addition reactions for producing synthetically useful haloalkanes, such as 1,1,1,3,3-pentachloropropane ("HCC-240"), are described in the prior art. For example, Kotora et al. "Addition of Tetrachloromethane to Halogenated Ethenes Catalyzed by Transition Metal Complexes", 77 J. Molec. Catal. 51-60 (1992) disclose the preparation of HCC-240 from carbon tetrachloride and vinyl chloride using both cuprous chloride and Cu(CH.sub.3 -CN).sub.4 !ClO.sub.4 complexes with an n-butylamine cocatalyst. Catalyst and cocatalyst removal is achieved by water wash which destroys the catalyst. Additionally, the use of perchlorates in the process poses handling problems because perchlorates are extremely explosive.
Kotora et al., "Selective Addition of Polyhalogenated Compounds to Chlorosubstituted Ethenes Catalyzed by a Copper Complex", 44 React. Kinet. Catal. Lett. 415-19 (1991) disclose the preparation of HCC-240 from carbon tetrachloride and vinyl chloride using a cuprous chloride complex catalyst with 2-propylamine as a cocatalyst. The reported HCC-240 yield, however, is only 71%. Zhiryukina et al. "Synthesis of Polychloroalkanes With Several Different Chlorine-Containing Groups", 1 Izv. Akad. Nauk SSR, Ser. Khim. 152-57 (1983) disclose a process for preparing HCC-240 from carbon tetrachloride and vinyl chloride using an Fe(CO).sub.5 -ethanol catalyst, which process reportedly yields 25% HFC-240. Both of these disclosed processes are disadvantageous in that they have a low selectivity for HFC-240. The Zhiryukina et al. process is further disadvantageous because it uses a highly toxic catalyst.
None of the prior art processes provides for haloalkane production in high yield and for the recycle of unreacted materials. Thus, a need exists for an efficient and economical process for the preparation of haloalkanes in high yield.